


Naked and Vulnerable

by InkyJustine



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Captivity, Carrying, F/M, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Nudity, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 08:04:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12008511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyJustine/pseuds/InkyJustine
Summary: The room Nadine sat in was pitch dark and cold.





	Naked and Vulnerable

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Naked and vulnerable  
> aka the reverse and Sam taking care of Nadine this time :3

The room Nadine sat in was pitch dark and cold. She was freezing since the guards had taken her clothes away and she had no sense of time _when_ that had happened. To her right was a wall she knew, because her shoulder was resting against it. She resented the fact she was huddled in a corner like a scared child, but it helped her orientate herself. Otherwise she wouldn‘t have known up from down, or left from right anymore. The darkness played tricks on her mind. Minutes were stretched out into hours. Hunger was gnawing at her but the thirst was worse. For all she knew she could have already been a week in there. It sure smelled like it at least, but it had already smelled like that to begin with, when she had been brought to the cell. 

It wasn‘t a small cell, either, or maybe it only felt huge because she couldn‘t see, couldn’t move around either except for a crawl. When she, Chloe and Sam had run from the paid _goons_ they had gotten separated and Nadine had twisted her ankle falling off a cliff, actually, had twisted _both_ of them. She‘d been easy pickings after that. The thugs had carried her to their quarters, had stripped her bare and thrown her in here. At least they had kept their groping to a minimum, hadn‘t touched her at all once she‘d been in her cell. It was a small favor for an already bad situation. Nadine felt _humiliated_. To her left was her toilet, nothing more than a pile of straw that she had awkwardly crawled to when she had had to relieve herself and she wasn‘t about to crawl over there again. In the darkness she was only going to step into things, with hands or knees, it made no difference.  
Already she had mapped out her new home, but it was stone on all sides, nothing that she could reach that could get her outside. So she could only wait. Her ankles were _throbbing_ and she cursed her own clumsiness.

Silence. Silence. Nadine didn‘t know how much more time passed before she finally heard the gunfire, followed by an explosion and people shouting orders or shouting in pain. She hoped angrily it was the latter. Then it was quiet again until footsteps came closer. 

Nadine looked towards the door, listening for the sound of a key turning and wasn‘t disappointed. If she could have stood she would have and hid herself behind the door. They weren‘t going to get the drop on her _again_. Then she was blinded when the door opened, letting light inside. 

„Jesus, Nadine you‘re naked!“ Sam yelped and Nadine, having squeezed her eyes shut, heard him whirl around. She cussed at him. „Well, this is awkward,“ Sam told her while Nadine blinked against the brightness. It wasn‘t even that bright, the sun was going down but everything was too much after her being in total darkness. 

„Shut up and get me clothes!“ Nadine demanded and caught Sam‘s worried look when she made no move to get to her feet.

„Are you hurt?“ Sam asked and stepped close, hands reaching out toward her. She slapped them away. 

„Yeah, twisted my _ankles_ falling down a cliff,“ she snapped and would have felt sorry for being an ass to him if she hadn‘t felt like crap. At least he didn‘t seem to mind. Things had gotten so much better between them after the tusk.  
She watched as he went outside and fought down the habit of mistrust at seeing him disappear. But she could still hear him close by, along with the rustling of fabric. Then he returned with clothes in his arms. 

„A pair of pants and a shirt for the lady,“ he said and dropped them beside her, holding only the shirt in his hands. „Raise up your arms.“

„The hell will I,“ Nadine growled, „turn around, Sam.“

Sam shrugged. „Just wanted to help.“ But he did as she had asked and Nadine quickly slipped the shirt over her head. She felt better for being at least partially covered. But she wasn‘t going to get the pants on by herself. She still tried, only getting them up to her thighs before she had to stop, hissing in pain and cursing under her breath. 

„Sam, I need your help,“ she begrudgingly said and he turned back around, bending over her. 

„Lay your arms around my shoulders,“ he said, sounding calm. No teasing in her voice this time. He had broad shoulders, nicely so, Nadine had noticed a few weeks ago. She turned her face away as he stood and she hung onto him. His hands were gentle as they pulled up the fabric over her ass. They didn‘t touch her beyond the necessary and she felt almost bitter about it. At least he wasn‘t making any stupid comments. Instead he was strangely silent. 

„Where is Chloe? And Sully?“ she found it in herself to ask. Normally Chloe would have been the first through the door. 

„They‘re distracting our new friends,“ Sam told her and lowered her back to the floor. The gun and ammo he gave her was no surprise. Then he stepped around her and the way he picked her up bridal style managed to surprise her after all. 

„I‘m not a damsel,“ she heard herself saying with a glare that only made him laugh. She was probably not cutting an imposing figure, dressed in over-sized clothes with both her legs injured. 

„Tell that to your ankles,“ Sam told her, „and shoot anyone you don‘t know.“

But they didn‘t meet anyone, to their shame or maybe to _their_ luck because Nadine felt like putting a few bullets through _quite_ a few people. At least she had seen some of the men who had stripped her down lying dead on their way to the car. Once there, Sam lowered her into the passenger seat. Nadine hissed when it jarred her ankles and cursed that she couldn‘t have bandaged them already. At least in her solitary cell she hadn‘t had many options of moving around and making them worse. Nonetheless her ankles felt hot and swollen to the touch. The time for cooling it with ice had passed and now she hoped an infection wasn‘t going to head her way.

She and Sam drove back in silence, skirting around the military cars they could see from afar. Nadine at least felt glad for the fabric covering her. 

„Do you want to wash up?“ Sam asked her once they were at their hideout. Chloe and Sully had called and told them they were on the way back, but they would take a while. For now they were on their own. The dirt on Nadine‘s skin told her uncomfortably how long she had been locked up, and reminded her of the fact that she had taken an accidental dive into a puddle as well, when she had tried to get away from the bullets aimed at her the first time around.

„Yeah, just give me a rag and I can spread it around a little,“ she answered bitingly and Sam raised up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Suddenly she felt bad for snapping at him. „Sorry,“ she said more softly.

„No harm done,“ Sam said. „You should have seen me after they brought me back to my cell.“ You were probably terrified, Nadine thought but didn‘t say. He was only trying to make her feel better. Then he told her to wait and she _almost_ snapped at him again. Where was she supposed to go on _two_ twisted ankles. All she was going to manage was an undignified crawl. 

She heard him rummage around the bathroom and putter around the kitchen. Then he came back and she dutifully held onto him as he picked her up again, without any apparent problem.

A chair stood in the shower-stall. „That way I won‘t have to hold you up,“ he told her with a grin. 

„You just want to make it easier on yourself,“ she said, but secretly she was pleased. It would leave her at least _a little_ dignity. She would just need help getting in and out. 

„I just don‘t want you to punch me in the dick,“ he corrected, making her laugh. 

„I won‘t punch you in the dick,“ she solemnly swore.

Sam raised a finger. „That doesn‘t mean you won‘t punch me anywhere else,“ he pointed out. 

„I won‘t,“ she promised. And she meant it. Without him she wouldn‘t have made it back, only to the closest ditch. If at all. „Alright, let‘s get this over with. Don‘t stare.“

„I won‘t,“ he promised. Then he stepped closer and Nadine pulled the shirt over her head and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hanging onto him as he raised her up just far enough to work the pants over her hips. Once he lowered her back onto the chair she worked them the rest of the way off and Nadine tried to get rid of the feelings igniting inside her belly at seeing him kneel before her. If she had been a man, she would have betrayed herself. Like this, he was fortunately none-the-wiser as he picked her up, eyes dutifully turned forward as he sat her down on the chair in the shower and handed her the shower-gel. 

„I‘ll be outside,“ he murmured and closed the door. Nadine watched his back as he stepped out. Slathering up her skin felt good, cleansing in more than just the physical sense. Sam had left her the shower head close by and she rinsed herself down without wasting any time. At another time she may have taken her time, but her restricted abilities grated on her and she knew her ankles needed to be looked at. Now, in the light and with time to look they seemed even worse. 

Upon her call, Sam returned and, eyes turned away again, he handed her the towel. He waited until she had patted herself down as much as her position allowed. then she wrapped herself in the towel and Sam picked her up again, managing to trap the towel in such a way that it _didn‘t_ leave her ass bare. 

Their next destination was the bedroom. 

„Did you ever take care of Nathan this way?“ she found herself asking curiously. He was so _gentle_ in everything he did, a clear contrast to his usual demeanor. There seemed to be some experience there as well.

He laid out bandages beside her on the bed. When he knelt again, Nadine‘s belly did a fell-swoop. 

„Yeah I did,“ he finally said, „when we were younger he had a fever. He always calmed down when I touched him, so I carried him around. It was hell on my back but at least he was almost light enough to do that.“

The silence after was comfortable, broken only by Nadine‘s hiss as he carefully moved her ankles one after another, checking the range she could still bend them and checking the swelling. Then he wrapped them in bandages from toes to the middle of her calves and helped her into a more comfortable pair of pants and one of her own shirts. For a moment her nose was pressed against the side of his neck and she inhaled his scent. He always smelled a little like smoke. Pleasantly so.

When he laid her down in the bed, she resisted the urge to pull him in beside her. Nadine had never been shy, but no doubt it would have done more harm than good to her feet and, she realized, she didn‘t want to mess this up. He wasn‘t Asav. This wasn‘t supposed to be just a convenience. A puzzling thought. Then Sam‘s lips touched her forehead and they both froze. 

Sam jerked away, the moment broken. „Sorry,“ he muttered, „force of habit.“ Nadine tried really hard to ignore how warm and fuzzy that threatened to make her feel, especially when a flush spread from Sam‘s chest up to his _ears_. 

„Stay here,“ she told him when he turned to leave. He didn‘t answer, but maybe she could read her face, because he walked around the bed and got in beside her, back resting against the wall behind him. Nadine had been reading a book last night and Sam picked it up, grinning as he read the title. 

„Wouldn‘t have taken you for the romance type,“ he mused.

„Read it, maybe you can learn some things,“ she shot back, grinning as well and if she later fell asleep with her head on his shoulder he didn‘t comment.


End file.
